By Roger Zelazny. Anyone else feel it to be amongst the best fantasy? The way Zelazny concentrated on one character, the world he created. It's a pity he is no longer around to continue the story as it is clear that it should not have ended where it did.

Amber was a good read. I have not read anything not written by Zelzany in that series, so can't say how well the prequil is.

As it goes for a mmorpg it might work, though how you work everyones abilities is beyond me. I know a pnp rgp was made from the series, just don't know how it is, since I never played it.

All in all worth the time to read it.

____________________________

You are not your magic weapon and armor. You are not your spell buffs. You are not how much gold you have, or how many times you've been raised from the dead. When a Big Bad Demon snaps your sword in two, you do not cry because that was your holy avenger. You leap onto its back, climb up to its head, and punch it in the eye, then get a new **** sword off of the next humanoid you headbutt to death.

Manna From Heaven: Short story collection which contains all of the Amber short stories (events that happen AFTER the ten book series)

This Immortal: Roger's mixing of Greek mythology with post-nuclear war

The Dream Master: A psychiatrist that tries to teach a blind girl how to shape dreams... sweetness...

Doorways in the Sand: College student who's been in college for like 20 years (without failing, just keeps changing major) gets mixed up with aliens looking for something...

Any other short story book collections: Zelazny was a short story writer primarily; that is what he loved and what he excelled at (why do you think the Amber books were so short? :-) ) so that's where his best stuff is.

I've been trying to finish 'The Dream Master' for some time now actually, even though it is a small book, I just can't seem to finish it :)

Concept is good though, I'm bound to finish it someday.

For other great Zelazny books, don't forget his mythology books: 'Lord of Light' (hard at times, often confusing but definitely worth it), 'Eye of Cat' and 'Creatures of Light and Darkness'. But most of Zelazny I've read is good, personal taste as always though.

I have a friend at work who plays Exalted at a local gaming shop here in Salt Lake, and he described the world and history of that game yesterday... I think that the makers of that game may have borrowed heavily from the Amber series to make the world, though it also has a lot of Greek mythology for the history. Of course, this is just from what he told me in about a 2 hour period after work.

zelazny... god i love his works... ive read the entire chronicle of amber 3-4 times now... and its one of the best series i've read. havent read his short storys, but i might pick one or two of them up if i can find them...

Zelazny's short stories were my favorites for close to 18 years but somehow missed Amber. Ran across a copy of the whole series in one big ole book at a library a couple of years back and tore through it like a redneck through balogna on wonder bread.

Thanks for mentioning the prequels, I've found my next reading material now! [:briggin:]

The 80's brought about a style change in sci-fi writing that seemed to change alot of the older series. The Corwin - Merlin reflects that imo. I much preferred the older writing. Herbert's Dune went through similar moves, but part of his change could be attributed to the slow death of his wife (changing from male to female lead characters).

Quote:

don't see how you could adequitely represent Chaos in any computer game, much less an MMORPG

The first time I entered to fight a Prime Avatar one of my first thoughts was that the scenery reminded me of Zelazny's Chaos. As far as backgrounds go, I think that would be a start.

If you haven't picked up Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming, it's a worthy read.

____________________________

most vagabonds I knowed don't ever want to find the culprit that remains the object of their long relentless quest the obsession's in the chasing and not the apprehending the pursuit you see and never the arrest